Oct. 10, 2001 – A public hearing on Botany Bay Partners' request to rezone 380 acres at Botany Bay on the west end of St. Thomas' has been postponed. The original date was Oct. 18 and no date has been set for a new hearing.
The area is currently zoned R-1, residential low-density. The company is asking for a rezoning to R-3, residential medium density, for three of the parcels. Additionally, it wants a rezoning for the waterfront parcel from R-1 to Waterfront – pleasure, in order to build a dock.
Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Dean Plaskett said Wednesday that the hearing was postponed because Botany Bay Partners does not have the minor Coastal Zone Management permit needed before the company can to subdivide the property and put in roads.
He said the company failed to submit a rainwater runoff study and historic preservation clearance letter with its application for the minor permit.
"There are a bunch of historic artifacts there," Plaskett said.
The person who answered the phone at William M. Karr and Associates, the architect for the project, said the company had no comment. He would not give his name.
Plaskett said the rezoning hearing would not take place until Botany Bay Partners gets its minor CZM permit.
The company wants to build a 100-room hotel, 80 time share units, 80 vacation villas as well as allocate 40 lots for private residences.
Plaskett said Botany Bay Associates needs a major CZM permit before it can begin building. He said that in order to get a permit for the dock, it will have to go before the Legislature.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Association of St. Thomas/St. John has sent out an appeal for an attorney willing to donate services to help the organization fight the development, President Carla Joseph said.
"We realize there are going to be a lot of legal issues," she said.
While EAST as well as many residents oppose the project for environmental reasons, Plaskett said that if the project is done in an "environmentally conscious" manner, it would be of value to the territory.
He said plans call for the developers to turn over major archeological finds to the government and the University of the Virgin Islands.
"There are beautiful ruins, Indian artifacts and maybe an Indian burial ground," Plaskett said.